Primary Sources - History: South Asia

Thorough resource with primary, secondary, statistical sources, and more.

The government of India declared a national emergency citing internal instability in June 1975. This site brings together oral histories, videos, government documents, newspaper articles, political cartoons, and more on the event and the time surrounding it.

"Our flagship oral history project has helped shed light on Partition by recording and preserving over 9,000 memories of Partition witnesses."

This document collection relates to India and the struggle for independence and the road to partition 1939-1947. The documents come from a range of British Government departments. These include documents from the Prime Minister’s office (PREM), Cabinet Papers (CAB), Foreign Office (FO), War Office (WO), Dominions Office (DO), and the Ministry of Information (INF). Finally the collection includes contemporary articles by the British and foreign press.

We have rich resources for the study of South Asia past and present. Archive includes records of the East India Company, printed periodicals and books in European and South Asian languages, and pre-colonial manuscripts.

Links to online archives, digitized texts, educational sites, and more from the Indus Valley cultures to present.

Primary sources from India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and others.

Events covered include independence and partition, the Indian annexation of Hyderabad and Goa, war between India and Pakistan, tensions and war between India and China, the consolidation of power of the Congress Party in India, military rule in Pakistan, the turbulent independence of Bangladesh and the development of nuclear weapons in the region. The files address these events from the standpoint of British officialdom.

"The History of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947. The material comprises diaries and journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and original Indian documents containing histories and literary works."

"The Digital Colonial Documents Project (India) is intended to promote study of the rare seminal documents which were influential in the formation of the notions of nation, state and culture during the colonial period. The project makes available rare colonial documents as searchable internet documents."

"SAOA's collection currently contains hundreds of thousands of pages of books, journals, newspapers, census data, magazines, and documents, with particular focus on social & economic history, literature, women & gender, and caste & social structure."

Sources on slavery in the Medieval period across the world, browsable by region and century. Includes digitized resources on the site as well as a bibliography of sources found elsewhere.